Chapter 16 Renaming

• She plotted to discover his weaknesses and leave this wretched castle with the amulet she'd seen still hanging about his chorded neck.
• A beacon of her purpose, I suppose. He grinned. Shifting happily in his red chair. Slinging an arm over the back as he put a leg over one armrest and kicked thoughtfully.
• He grunted. Staring at the ceiling above him thoughtfully. "Aren't we frustrated, Little One?"
• He felt little remorse for taking her captive for trying to steal from him. Especially for this Prince of Air and Darkness.
• A creature of Radix's? He wondered. Some dark Cimmerii?
• ***
• Bast toyed with the flame of a candle on the table next to him. Pinching the wick and then releasing with dancing fingertips before leisurely scooped handful of exotic nuts from the bowl next to him. Firelight dancing over his features as he chewed.
• Riding along with her memories of coming to LandingTown with the other woman, watching Sebastian, sighting him as a target and studying his habits.
• Learning with the woman, Wrenny, LandingTown dress and customs so they could blend in.
• She noted everyone behaved as they feared her. And she savored it.
• She likes being feared.
• She's like a wild mare ready to run a man over. He focused on her pacing above them his attention broken by a shadow in the doorway of his Library.
• Rhyers, the tracker, strode into the Library and noticed Sebastian's concentrated expression.
• "Ugh. You look fair black with rage." Rhyers remarked. Jerking to a stop just inside the doorway.
• "I am." He said absentmindedly.
• "You're listening to her thoughts?"
• "Memories. She was watching me for a nearly a fortnight." He'd been observing her memories like nearly three-dimensional visions playing before him here in the Library.
• Until Rhyers distracted me.
• "She came to LandingTown to hunt me."
• ***
• "You? Rhyers was wide-eyed in appall.
• Bast shrugged.
• "Oh?" Rhyers lifted a dark eyebrow as he stood near the doorway.
• "She was after my amulet."
• "That's not good." Rhyers winced. "We can't have any of them land in anyone else's possession."
• I know. Bast shot him a sharp look.
• "She didn't think I was a threat."
• "Oh." Rhyers reared back. "Well, she was sorely mistaken."
• Yes, she was.
• "Thank you." Bast's gold eyes flicked to his friend, gratified.
• "Is she Cimmerii?"
• "No."
• I don't think so.
• He added. "But she does have a tinge of evil, whatever she is."
• "Not demonic though?" Rhyers poured himself a glass of amber liquid from one of the decanters off the corner table.
• My favorite sherry. But Bast didn't mind sharing.
• "Would I have let her into WaterRose?" Bast asked coldly. Gaze flicking to Rhyers.
• "Not if you knew." Rhyers returned with glass in hand. Swishing the liquid thoughtfully in it. An old habit when he was deep in thought. "How'd she get here?"
• "I drove her here."
• "Drove her? I do hope you mean in a carriage!"
• Bast shot him a staying look.
• Rhyers sighed. "Of course not. As a wolf or a dragon?"
• Bast lifted a brow, as if Rhyers should already know the answer.
• "You know as the dragon, you're far more visible to Radix's all-seeing eyes! Especially you! You're so bloody bright." Rhyers chastised.
• "Only during the day."
• Or in particularly bright moonlight.
• "Was it at night that you chased her here?" Rhyers challenged, his mouth scrunched disapprovingly.
• Shut up and go away with your chiding. Bast returned his focus to the ceiling above him.
• He already knows my answer or his face wouldn't look like that.
• "I'd thought not." Rhyers took a long swallow. Eying him balefully.
• Bast pointedly ignored him until Rhyers rose.
• "I dearly hope she's worth it." Rhyers was shaking his head and chuckling as he went toward his chamber upstairs.
• "She is." Bast murmured from behind him.
• ***
• Bast hardly noticed when Rhyers left. His focus on the trail of Elsabet's memories leading to today's events.
• In her rented Town House, only a particularly brave lady's maid, Libby, had dared dress the women. Even bold enough to offer advice on piling Serenade's pretty silver tresses atop her head.
• "Where are the rest of the maids." Serenade queried.
• "Most of the maids fear ye Mum. Especially after you near took Susan's head off last sevennight." The maid explained.
• "That was her own fault."
• "I'm not afraid. Just careful." Libby cheerfully plaited Serenade's hair as the valkyrie watched in the looking glass. Careful to not tug her tresses as Susan had done. "Yer so beautiful Mum. Ye could make men bow to yer wishes if ye used yer wiles."
• Serenade reflexively caught the girl's wrist in an iron grip. "Am I not already irresistible?"
• Libby nervously shuffled. "Not to these men, Me Lady." She shook her head. "Ye're breathtaking 'nuff miss. But to these jaded jacks ye're just 'nother lovey maiden among the many."
• Libby adjusted the metal plate of vines holding her hair in place. The headcover for LandingTown servants.
• Libby swallowed hard and ducked behind Serenade to evade the other woman's reflective stare. "Ye could start by picking a name less odd..." Libby said. "If ye wanna blend..."
• "Name me then." Serenade directed. Staring at Libby in the mirror.
• Libby froze, hairbrush aloft. "I never named some 'un afore..."
• Libby eyed the shimmering strands of hair slipping over her palm like fine satin. Letting them move more slowly as her eyes rolled and her body jerked minutely as she tapped into the energy pulsing in the other woman. Finally, she breathlessly murmured. "With hair such as this, I'd 'ave called ye Elsabet, My Lady."
• Serenade tipped her head to eye the girl. Lips tight as she decided.
• Libby laid the lavender dress on the bed positioning the arms out with careful precision before stepping away.
• Watching as the dress lifted and floated over Serenade's head, Libby murmured. "Many times as I 'ave saw that, Mum, I never get used to it."
• Serenade didn't respond.
• "My ye are a sight miss. An enchantress or the like." She was awestruck.
• "If you say." Elsabet nods over her shoulder.
• Libby carefully tightened the laces, cinching the fitted dress around the petite woman.
• "Call me Elsabet." Serenade commanded.
• The maid gave a dark smile as she watched Elsabet leave. Eyes lighting with pleasure.